The Gujrat Tax Bar Association has urged the in-land revenue member to shift offices of the In-land Revenue Zone II Gujrat to one main building at a suitable location since the present arrangement of two separate offices is causing inconvenience to taxpayers and tax practitioners.
The Bar through a resolution said prior to the creation of the Regional Tax Office Sialkot in 2005, Gujrat District was a range having seven offices in Gujrat and Kharian under the administration and control of the inspecting additional commissioner of Income Tax, but with the abolition of previous system the offices of income tax officers and the additional commissioner of income tax were shifted to RTO Sialkot, leaving behind only one office of TFC in Gujrat.
In 2010 RTO Sialkot was divided into two zones - Zone-I consisting of Sialkot and Narowal districts and Zone-II consisting of Gujrat district. The offices of Zone-II remained in Sialkot instead of in Gujrat.
In 2013 most of the offices were shifted to Gujrat but for some unknown reasons two separate buildings were situated almost two miles from each other. The location of offices is resulting not only problems for the members of tax bar and taxpayers but also a decline in the department's efficiency, the resolution claimed.
Citing some facts and figures, the resolution said as per information from GEPCO, in tax year 2005 there were up to 45,849 commercial and 5,434 industrial electricity connection in Gujrat with an increasing numbers in tax year 2011 whereas number of income tax returns including salaried people filed in 2005 remained constant till 2011 when up to 11,000 and there was a sudden downfall as number of filed returns at the in-land revenue offices is less than 8,000 for the tax year 2014.
The resolution also said through survey conducted in 2001 almost 5,000 cases were discovered and that in 2008 and 2009, 600 cases in respect of property sale/purchase were reported. In 2010, more than 175 cases of potential bricks kiln were brought on record with the help of Bricks Kiln Association but the figure of income tax returns filed failed to increase. The number of bank branches and account holders was increasing and that almost all major brands of apparels and shoes were available in Gujrat paying huge rents for the buildings they acquired, number of new franchises of renowned educational chains were increasing and they were also paying huge amounts of rent, but no new taxpayers were yet discovered by the officials.
The resolution also attributed any inefficiency of in-land revenue staff at zone-II to non-availability of higher officers and said members of the Tax Bar were also facing difficulties in performing their duties resulting to the loss of money, time and abilities. The taxpayers of Gujrat were also being burdened because of location of offices. "No one actually knows the location of Audit, BTB, enforcement and TFC offices," the resolution added.
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